2016-2017
Cultural Evolution: Social Learning in Humans and Animals
Category: Psychology
Code: IS271
Level: 5
Credits: 15
Teaching Pattern
Week 1
3 x 3hrs
Week 2
3 x 3hrs
Week 3
3 x 3hrs
Seminar
1 x 20mins
Tutorial
*you will be expected to do approximately 124 hours of independent study over the 4 weeks.
Week 4
3 x 3hrs
Outline
Can evolutionary theory explain cultural change? Cultural Evolution is an exciting new field that
spans a number of disciplines; we will mainly focus on the intersection between cultural evolution
and psychology.
It is evident that humans learn from each other – they are social creatures. We will examine the
concept of cultural evolution, ie we have two forms of inheritance – genes (biological evolution), and
information such as traditions, ideas and social norms that influence our behaviour (cultural
evolution). We then examine how cultural evolution occurs. Social learning is a key mechanism
responsible for human cumulative cultural evolution. However animals also use social learning and
we will examine the similarities and differences between human and animal social learning.
Learning Outcomes
By the end of the module students will be able to:
Present ideas and arguments on the module material in a group setting and engage students
in critical discussion.
Engage in debate in a group setting.
Discuss a specified topic within the module material in a clear and concise manner
demonstration competence in writing skills and analytical skills.
Provide a sustained critical investigation of a range of written material.
Contacts
Julie Coultas
[email protected]
Indicative Reading List
1
SUMMER Session 2
Phone :
Boyd, R., & Silk, J. B. (2012). How Humans Evolved. Sixth International Edition. WW Norton & Company,
New York.
Hoppitt, W., & Laland, K. N. (2013). Social learning: an introduction to mechanisms, methods, and models.
Princeton University Press.
Laland, K. N. & Brown, G. R. (2011) Sense and nonsense: evolutionary perspectives on human behaviour
Oxford Oxford University Press
Mesoudi, A. (2011). Cultural evolution: how Darwinian theory can explain human culture and synthesize the
social sciences. ChicagoUniversity of Chicago Press.
Pagel, M. (2012). Wired for culture: The natural history of human cooperation. Penguin UK.
Richerson, P. J., & Boyd, R. (2005). Not by genes alone: How culture transformed human evolution.
University of Chicago Press.
Plus:
Many theme issues on social learning and cultural evolution in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal
Society and Learning and Behaviour.
University Library
The Library,
University of Sussex,
Brighton
BN1 9QL
2
Phone: 01273 678163
[email protected]
SUMMER Session 2